Parts of Wellington's CBD are being transformed into 1920s New York this week, with hundreds of film cast and crew in town for a major Hollywood production.

A fleet of vintage cars also features, for filming of the Time Bandits series.

Taika Waititi is leading the project for Apple+TV and Paramount, with Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Concords an executive producer.

The cast includes former Friends star Lisa Kudrow, Kal-El Tuck from Unseeing Evil and Charlyne Yi from Knocked Up.

Time Bandits revolves around a boy who discovers a time portal in his bedroom, and was officially described as "a comedic journey through time and space with a ragtag group of thieves and their newest recruit: an 11-year-old history nerd."

Wellington City Council has closed parts or all of Stout, Maginnity and Ballance streets over the next three nights for filming.

A fleet of vintage cars are parked in Wellington's CBD for filming. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A council paper said the CBD closures were to create scenes of 1920s Harlem, with the interior and exterior of the boutique Wellesley Hotel a key location.

"It provides the production with an excellent backdrop to take this trip back in time."

Local agencies in Wellington were not prepared to comment further and the Herald has contacted Paramount and Showtime.

The size of the production is such that the crew is also using car parking areas at the nearby Wellington Stadium as a base.

Filming is also taking place at Stone Street Studios and other locations in the Greater Wellington region.

The series is adapted from the 1980s original, directed and co-written by Monty Python star Terry Gilliam and starring John Cleese and Sean Connery.